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WEIR'S PICTURE 



THE EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS 



BY S. G. BULFINCH. 



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WEIR'S P I 01 U R K 



THE EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS; 



DELIVERED 



IN THE TTNITARIAN CHTTRrH, 



Washington, Decpmljer H 1 st, 184;^. 



BY S. G. BITI. FINCH. 




PT'ELISHED BY REQUEST 



WASHINGTON: 
PRIXTED BY OAL19 AXD 9EAT0X. 



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We have licard vviih our vars, O God, our fathers liave told us, what work 
thou didsl ill their days, in the limes of old ; 

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their 
own arm save them ; but thy right hand, and thine ami, and the ligiil of thy 
■countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them. — Psalm xliv., 1 and 3. 

The subject of my present remarks has been suggested to 
me by the sight of that noble work of art, which has recently 
been added to the decorations of our chief public edifice — the 
picture of the Embarkation of the Pilgrims. It seemed to me, 
as I looked on that living representation of a most memorable 
scene, coimected as it is with all the dearest associations of the 
patriot and the holiest feelings of the Christian, as if its eleva- 
tion to the place it is permanently to occupy should have been 
attended with some solemn service of consecration, in whicli 
assembled throngs should have recognised, with the prayer of 
gratitude, the blessing of that God to whom their fathers had 
knelt with the prayer of faith and earnest supplication. Such 
a service probably would not have been consistent with the 
rules which custom has prescribed. And it was not needed. 
Henceforth that hall is consecrated — consecrated by the power 
of genius to the silent worship of the lieart to the God of our 
fathers. Many a prayer will ascend, through years and ages 
to come, from those who gaze on the imagined resemblances 
of the great and good who knelt on the deck of that humble 
vessel; many a statesman, as he gazes there, will kindle the 
flame of patriotism to brighter radiance from the altar of piety ; 
and many a pure, ingenuous youth will learn froni tliat pic- 
lured scene to pursue with renewed ardor the course set before 
him, and to merit the high titles of servant of God, friend of 
his country, benefactor of his race. 



4 

1 take this occasion to speak of the principles of the Pil- 
grims — the pecuhar traits of character which distinguished 
them in their own day, and which their descendants, and the 
citizens of that great RepubUc of which they laid the founda- 
tion, should strive ever to retain and develope in themselves. 

Those men who laid, two centuries since, the foundation of 
our institutions on the rock of Plymouth ; those, a stitl smaller 
band, wiio united in that parting prayer on board the Speed- 
well, were a portion of that great division of the English 
people, then called Puritans, of whom those who remained in 
their native land, not long after, vindicated the liberty of their 
country, hurled an arbitrary sovereign from his throne, and 
established a short-lived, though glorious commonwealth . The 
history of the Puritans, on the two sides of the Atlantic, aftbrds 
a striking instance of the manner in which events are trans- 
mitted to posterity, clothed in those colors in which success or 
defeat may have enveloped them. In this country the Puritans 
are revered as the heroic founders of our nation, the wise and 
pious originators of our most valued institutions ; their faults — 
for they were human, and their imperfections are revealed to 
lis by the added light of two centuries — their faults are over- 
looked, their virtues only recognised in the glowing admiration 
of their descendants. How is it with the Puritans in England, 
the great body of which our Pilgrim Fathers formed but a small 
and severed portion ? Their history has been written by their 
enemies; for they, alihough successful for a time, were at 
length overborne. They are handed down to us as severe 
fanatics, or as men whose criminal ambition was only equalled 
by their deep hypocrisy. History is at length but beginning 
to do them justice. What a lesson to ambition, even of the 
most virtuous character ! The reward of human praise, how- 
ever worthily sought, is not always conferred even by late pos- 
terity. Happy they, in public or in private life, who look for 
their reward beyond the praise of men, to the approbation of 
their own consciences and of the Searcher of hearts. 

Such were the pilgrim band who embarked at Delft-haven : 



a poinoii of that noble body which al'tei wards maintained, 
with temporary success, the sacred struggle for liberty against 
the Stuarts. And the love of freedom which they brought 
with them has been transmitted to their sons. It shone in the 
brilliant struggle of our Revolution. It burns still brightly in 
the hearts ef our countrymen. God grant liis blessing to its 
extending influence ! God grant, that without civil dissension 
or individual injustice, the cause of freedom may yet have 
entire and triumphant success in our land ! 

I have said that the Fathers of New England formed a pari 
of the great English Puritan body. But we have every 
reason to regard them as the best of those who bore that noble, 
though nuich-inJLired name. They were men who had chosen 
their part, had fixed their faith, before the first faint gleam of 
success could suggest to them an unworthy motive. In the 
days of the Long Parliament, the cause of Puritanism was the 
cause of glory and of victory ; but in the days of these Pil- 
grims, it was but another name for exile, and the loss of fortune 
and of friends. Scanty was the band of those who could at 
first voluntarily forego their native soil, and almost the sound 
of their mother tongue, to enjoy the liberty of conscience 
afforded thein in friendly Holland. Yet more scanty the com- 
pany of those who could be the first to leave that resting place, 
resume the pilgrimage of which they knew by experience the 
trials, and for their children's sakes, rather than for their own, 
brave the perils of the sea, and of the untried, desolate, and 
heathen land. Few were they in number— the trebly refined 
gold of the English dissenting body ; and, if the generation which 
succeeded offended in aught against the rights of conscience, 
it is not at least upon the Pilgrims of Delft-haven that the 
blame must be laid. They were the hearers, the attached and 
sympathizing flock, of one who expressed, as we may well 
believe, their sentiments with his own, Avhen he said to them, 
at parting, those imperishable words: "If God reveal any 
thin*' to you by any other instrument of his, be as ready to 
receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my minis- 



6* 

try ; for I am verily persuaded, I am very confident, that the 
Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his holy word. 
For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the 
reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and 
will go at present no further than the instruments of their 
reformation." Such were the words of Robinson, the pastor 
who knelt with his flock on the deck of the Speedwell. Such 
was (he spirit of true expansive toleration, of calm and free, 
though pious inquiry, which he endeavored to cherish in those 
committed to his charge. We will not believe that his labors 
were in vain, or (hat those heroic and godly men who received 
his parting blessing would have stained themselves with acts 
of intolerance such as unliappily were committed by a suc- 
ceeding generation. 

It is, then, as true and consistent confessors in the cause of 
religious liberty, that we may regard that pilgrim band who 
first embarked from the shores of Holland. And, thanks be 
to God, that though there are pages in the history of our 
country from which the philanthropist turns with a sigh for 
the weakness of the great, the errors of the wise, nay, for the 
injustice and cruelty of the good and the pious, yet have the 
principles of Robinson become more and more fully developed 
and recognised. The Providence of God, by whose wise ap- 
pointment different sections of our country were settled by 
emigrants of different religious creeds, has contributed to teach 
the great lesson of mutual toleration. Beautifully is this trnth 
exemplified in that very hall of State to which the character of 
my subject, as I trust, authorizes a reference. In that hall, 
the eye, turning from the representation of those kneeling Puri- 
tans, rests upon one which exhibits the priestly vestments of 
Episcopalian worship ;* thence elevated, it recognises the well- 
known garb of the Society of Friends,t and in years to come the 



* Picture of the Baptism of Pocahontas. 

f Bas relief representing Pen n's Treaty with the Indians 



picture of the Landing ot Columbus* will present in contrast, 
yet in harmony with these, the symbols of the Roman Catholic 
belief. It is well that these varying denominations should thns 
meet, in the memorials of the great and good by whom each 
has been honored, and in the Legislative palace of our Union. 
Call it not accident, but let us and our posterity, to the latest 
ages, recognise the principle thus shadowed forth, that while 
our country, in every section of lier wide dominions, and in 
every period of her history, acknowledges the guiding and 
sustaining hand of her Almighty protector, she knows politi- 
cally no superiority of one denomination to another, but pro- 
tects and honors all, bidding them without fear to extend to 
each otlier the right hand of mutual kindness and of Chris- 
tian charity. 

For the sake of liberty, civil and religious, did the Pilgrims 
cross the ocean; but their love of freedom was not the 
unthinking, unrestrained transport of the wild enthusiast, who, 
in his indignation against oppression, is ready to lay the axe 
to the root of social order, and to involve in common destruc- 
tion all time-worn abuses and all time-honored institutions, 
whatever the weakness of man has suffered to deface the earth, 
and whatever his wisdom has laboriously planned to adorn it. 
No. They were friends of social order, friends of law, and 
prepared, as that should direct them, to discharge the duty of 
magistrates with mild dignity, or that of private citizens with 
orderly, though not servile obedience. And here, too, they 
found in the counsels of their pastor the sentiments which 
their own deportment afterwards exemplified. " Let your 
wisdom and godliness appear," said he to them, "not only in 
choosing such persons as do entirely love and will promote the 
common good, but also in yielding unto them all due honor 
and obedience in their lawful administration, not beholding in 
them the ordinariness of their persons, but God's ordinance 
for your good ; not being like the foolish multitude who 

* Understood to be in progress of execution. 



8 

more honor the gay coal than either the virtuous mnid of man 
or the glorious ordinance of God." Directed by these princi- 
ples, they founded a community, orderly, though free, and 
which, by the just combination of these two elements, soon 
manifested an inborn vigor which need fear neither foreign 
assault nor domestic dissension. 

And ever let their children and successors hold fast that 
love of social order by which the fathers were distinguished. 
Ever let them feel, that cheerful obedience to those laws 
which first emanated from the authority of the community 
itself, is as honorable to the citizen as it is essential to the 
peace of those around him. Ever let them feel, that the blind 
fury of the mob, and the summary justice or injustice of ille- 
gal and self-constituted tribunals, is utterly unworthy of the 
citizens of a Republic which was first established by the grave 
and religious men whom God raised up for that end. Let 
them feel that the foundations of a commonwealth can only 
then be firm, when laid deep in the immutable principles of 
justice, integrity, and religion. And the sacred teachings of 
their noble ancestors may they transmit, and the examples left 
from the old heroic ages of the country may they, may ive, 
in our own characters, reflect and perpetuate, for the coming 
generations of American freemen. 

The last thought leads me to speak of another principle of 
the Pilgrim Fathers, distinguished, indeed, as supplying the 
leading motive for their great enterprise — zeal for the good 
and virtuous education of the young. After their removal to 
Holland, they found, though courteously received, that their 
dangers were not ended. They had rescued their children 
from outward persecution ; how should they guard them 
against dangers from within .'' They had not dreaded so 
much the oppressions of their own country for those they held 
dear, as they now dreaded the evil examples of some among 
those with whom they now sojourned. The father, as he 
looked upon his eldest born, and saw in his ingenuous features 
the image of his own youthful years, felt that, rather than this 



cherished son should depart from the fear of his God, he 
would meet with cheerfulness the stormy ocean, the inhospita- 
ble shore, the savage foe. The mother, as with looks of love, 
she prompted her young child's attention to the prayer of the 
man of God,* felt that, were that dear one but rescued from 
the dangers of temptation, she could die with joy, among the 
victims of the wild winter, on an unknown coast. For the 
sake of these they embarked ; not to win for them wealth or 
empire, but to rescue them from moral danger, and to keep 
them in the solitude of the Western continent, pure from those 
evils which had filled with the poison of temptation the moral 
atmosphere of the old world. 

And let us, who share the blessings which they provided 
for their descendants, retain for ourselves, for our country, for 
those who are to come after us, the good which those fathers 
of our nation transmitted. They attained what they sought. 
They found a land where the corruption of luxury was un- 
known ; and here they established for their children institu- 
tions which should perpetuate sound learning and virtuous 
principles. It depends on us, on the men of the present, to 
transmit this glorious legacy to those of future times. The 
example of the Pilgrims calls on us for devotion to the cause 
of popular education. In vain, to defend our hberties, shall 
we gird our coast with navies; in vain shall we extend the 
embattled wall, and augment the military column, if we fail 
to enlighten the minds of the young among us, to make llieni 
acquainted with their duty as men and as citizens. In com- 
mending popular education, I do not mean exclusively the 
communication of knowledge. This is the means to a better 
education, the developement of mind, the adoption of high 
and firm principles of conduct. Knowledge of literature and 
the arts is much, but it is not all. Nations have been virtu- 
ous, in which reading and writing were scarcely known ; na- 



* Allusion is made to tlie attitude and expression of Mrs. Carver and iicr 
child in the picture. 



10 

tions have been vicious, which have attained the highest 
degree of what is termed intellectual refinement. Still, ordi- 
narily, the communication of knowledge is a means for the 
advancement of virtue. Let then the college and the com- 
mon school do their work ; but let it be done in a lofty spirit, 
and let those who teach feel that they have something more 
to impart than the knowledge of words and numbers. Let 
every child in our land be taught to read and write. Let him 
also be tauglit to be just in his dealings, to love his country, 
to fear his God. The term "popular education" has a ful- 
ness of meaning which is but beginning to be comprehended. 
How we are to attain, for the generation which is to succeed 
us, that great object to gain which for their children the Pil- 
grims crossed the ocean, is an inquiry of too mighty import to 
be now undertaken ; but this we may well believe, that where 
there is, in individual parents, or in a united community, the 
spirit which animated those Pilgrims, the willingness to do 
and dare the hardest and the worst for the sake of their chil- 
dren's virtue, there that fervent spirit will find its way, the 
path will be made plain, whether it be to parental love or to 
philanthropic patriotism, and a blessing on the effort will be 
granted by the God of our fathers. 

It was in His blessing that the Pilgrims trusted. One char- 
acteristic of that noble band remains, and that the loftiest — 
reliance on God. It was in his service that they had already 
left their homes for a foreign land; it was in his service that 
they now prepared to leave this resting-place for untried 
scenes. Among the motives which prompted their enterprise, 
and of which some have already been noticed, is mentioned 
one, which we are told " was not the least, a great hope and 
inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at 
least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and 
advancement of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those 
remote parts of the world ; yea, although they should be but 
as stepping-stones unto others for the performance of so great 
a work." And not only was the extension of the Redeemer's 



11 

Kingdom one of itself among the objects they held in view, 
out every other aim — the security of their civil and religions 
liberties; the welfare, not so much temporal as spiritual, of their 
children, was alike one worthy of Christians, and on which 
the favor of Providence might be alike implored. They had 
sought that favor by prayer and with solemn fasting. They 
trusted then in God ; and well they knew in whom they trust- 
ed. It was in Him who hud called them forth from their own 
land, even as he called Abraham of old ; in Him, who had 
put it in their hearts to engage in this solemn and glorious 
undertaking. They trusted in Him, not as those who rashly 
tempt his Providence, for every preparation which wisdom 
could suggest they made ; and they had in their company the 
gray head of counsel and the strong arm of valor ; but they 
knew that without His blessing, all these would be of no 
avail. They trusted then in God, with a firm, though hum- 
ble faith, that He would bear them safely through their trials; 
and that though some must fall, eventually their colony would 
be established, a resting-jDlace for their oppressed brethren, a 
home of innocence for their rising offspring, a bright witness 
for the truths of the gospel on the shores of a darkened conti- 
nent. And when their minds turned to the possibility of fail- 
ure, though they knew that the ways of Providence were 
often mysterious, and that their firm confidence of success 
could not be certainty, yet they trusted in God. What, though 
themselves should sink beneath the ocean, or perish, as some 
adventurers before thom had done, by the hand of savage vi- 
olence or the stern pangs of famine, leaving not one to tell the 
tale of their destruction ! Their God could raise up other in- 
struments to accomplish the enterprise they had planned. 
The example they had given would not be lost. And for 
themselves and for their children, their trust in God was not 
for this life alone. Nay, it grew firmer, and its liglit more 
cheering, as it contemplated the scenes of the future world. 
Better for those (hey loved would be an early death, than an 
abode in tlie midst of temptation, or a retiun to their own 



12 

country to gain a limited freedom by the renunciation of their 
faith. Thus prepared for either event, yet full of solemn and 
glowing hopes for the success of their enterprise, they trusted 
in God ; and gloriously was their trust rewarded. They 
were met indeed by dangers and trials of which they had not 
probably conceived. In the first year more than half the 
number of the first emigrants perished. Their work had well 
been done, and they Avent to their reward. But the survivors 
ceased not from their trust. They felt that their enterprise 
was achieved, though amidst suftering. The Providence of 
God had kept from their famished band all attacks of hostile 
violence, and had given them a friendly reception from the 
scattered natives of the coast. And now, if ye would learn 
liow their trust in God has been answered, look at New Eng- 
land, her past history, her present condition and character, 
her prospects for the future ; nay, look at our whole country, 
which, even its most distant sections claims an interest in the 
adventure of that pilgrim band, and confess, in the language 
of the sacred minstrel : " We have heard with our ears, 
God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their 
days, in the times of old ; for they got not the land in pos- 
session by their own sword, neither did their own arm save 
them ; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy 
countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them." 

Let us imitate our fathers' trust in God. We are not called 
to exertions or to sufl'erings like theirs. Not in a foreign land, 
whose speech is unknown to us ; not on a barbarous shore, 
where none but savage bands have dwelt, has the Almighty 
tixed the scene of our duties. The lines have fallen to us in 
pleasant places, and we have, by the Providence of God on 
the labors of diose who have gone before us, a goodly herit- 
age of peace, of the means of comfort, of civil and religious 
freedom. Yet let us feel that, like those who have gone be- 
Ibre us, we are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth," "look- 
ing for a better country, even a heavenly one." Let us feel 
that on us, loo, a duty is imposed ; that we, too, are sent 



y 

13 

forth on a mission from our Father in heaven, to keep our- 
selves pure from sui, to love our country, to benefit mankind, 
to serve our God ; to bear faithful testimony in the cause of 
truth, of freedom, and of virtue. May the spirit of the glo- 
rious dead ever animate us, and all who look to them with 
feelings of filial reverence ; and may our land, ever faithful 
to the Pilgrims' principles, to civil and religious liberty, the 
support of social order, the cause of public education and 
public virtue, trust ever in the Pilgrims' God, and find that 
trust repaid by his continued blessing ! 



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